IOR: De Franssu announces more help for the poor and more transparency

The “Vatican bank’s” new president said this is what the Pope wants. “Only when we looked at the possibility of closing the Institute down did we realize how much we needed it”

Domenico Agasso jrTurin

“First of all, the Pope’s main mission when he speaks about the IOR is how the Church, how the Holy See can continue to give increasingly more help to the poor and spread the faith,” the new French president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, said in an interview with Vatican Radio. “The second thing sought, and this is a hallmark of the Holy Father, is greater transparency. Pope Benedict XVI had already started paving the path towards greater transparency: it was he who nominated Ernst von Freyberg.”

“More transparency is therefore needed and above all, [the Holy See] needs to fully adhere to international standards,” de Franssu went on to say. According to the new president (who is 51 years old, married and a father of four) “the IOR must not be different from all the other banking institutions in any way. But a special focus needs to be given to clients: we need to make sure that we respond to clients’ expectations and to the needs of congregations and dioceses, in terms of the quality of service and the products offered. There will now be an even greater focus on this in Phase II of the IOR’s restructuring process compared to Phase 1.”

Regarding the potential closure of the Institute, which some were in favour of in light of the past scandals, de Franssu stated: “I think the Holy Father was very clear on this in the statement he issued on 7 April. It was vital to look into the possibility of closing down the IOR because only by looking into this possibility did we realize how much we needed it.”

“It is with joy that I accept this mission,” de Franssu said about his nomination as President of the IOR. “The task assigned to me is a very important one, especially as I will be continuing the work carried out by von Freyberg. This is a task that also requires a great deal of humility as the IOR plays an important role in the lives of many congregations and dioceses across the world.”

De Franssu stressed that the Institute also has a significant role to play” in the context of the Holy See’s entire administrative and financial organisation. It is therefore an important task and I have joyfully accepted it,” he added. “I see it as a mission more than anything else and I hope to be able to fulfill the expectations on me when I was entrusted with the task at hand.”